


The Final Calling Card

by CinnamonZor



Series: ShuHaru Week 2019 - A Fool for the Empress [2]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Anniversary, Business Trip, F/M, Fluff, Hawaii, Marriage Proposal, Memories, Vacation, elaborate schemes, scavenger hunt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-10 00:19:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18649072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CinnamonZor/pseuds/CinnamonZor
Summary: Day 2Haru and Akira travel to Hawaii for a business trip. On the evening of their anniversary, Haru returns from a meeting to find her boyfriend missing from their hotel room and a familiar slip of paper in his place.





	The Final Calling Card

Haru Okumura exhaled a gentle sigh as the elevator made its way to the fifth floor of the hotel. She was more than grateful that the last meeting of the trip was finally finished. Having to work on her anniversary was a necessary evil, but at least it had its benefits.

For the past couple days, Okumura Foods was hosting its annual shareholders summit in Hawaii. The meeting was normally held at the corporate HQ in Tokyo, but this year President Takakura had suggested holding it here instead. Since Haru and Akira's anniversary fell during the trip, they decided to take the opportunity to spend the occasion in the tropical paradise together. They planned to stay a few days after the summit and return on the sixth, which Akira had suggested for the sake of having time to enjoy the vacation together while also getting to remain in Hawaii for Haru's birthday. And now that the obligations of the trip were finally over, the two could finally have some much needed rest and relaxation as a couple.

As she walked through the hotel hallway to their room, Haru's mind turned to speculating her boyfriend's plans for their anniversary celebration. Before she'd left this morning, Akira cheerfully informed her that he had the perfect surprise in store for the evening. And with his well-established flair for the dramatic, Haru knew he likely wasn't exaggerating.

Even before they started dating, Akira's natural showmanship as leader of the Phantom Thieves had instantly piqued Haru's interest. After the Metaverse disappeared and their lives as Joker and Noir came to a close, Akira needed somewhere to redirect his hobby of well-planned, convoluted schemes. Fortunately for Haru, a number of those places ended up being their relationship, as he always attempted to outdo himself when it came to pleasantly surprising her. And, while things didn't always go off without a hitch, she flat-out adored every single one.

She finally arrived at the room, fishing her keycard out of her purse and unlocking the door. She entered and closed the door behind her, looking around for the messy-haired man she'd come to admire so much. Oddly enough, all the lights were off and Akira was nowhere to be seen.

"Aki-kun?" Haru walked over to the bedroom door. She figured he was probably just working in the other room and didn't hear her. However, when she opened the door, she discovered an incredibly similar scene. The lights were off, the room was normal, and Akira was still very, very absent. She quickly checked the bathroom as well, but it was still empty. It was as if any trace of her boyfriend had disappeared from the hotel room.

Haru pulled her phone out of her purse, intending to text Akira to ask if he went out, when a small object sitting in the middle of the bed caught her eye. She walked over and picked up the familiar red and black rectangle. The signature hat and mask on the front and the words "take your heart" plastered in magazine letters underneath the logo left little room for doubt that this was a Phantom Thief-style calling card. Haru's mind started racing. What was this doing here? Who put it in the hotel room? Was this Akira's doing?

Hoping to find some sort of answer to her questions, Haru flipped the card over to see if there was anything on the other side. Sure enough, pasted on the back was a message written in more magazine letters.

_Haru Okumura, the Phantom Thief formerly known as Noir._  
_As I'm sure you've discovered, someone you hold dear has been taken from this room._  
_Do not be afraid. He will remain unharmed. So long as you follow these instructions, you shall find him safe and sound._  
_Once you leave the hotel, head west along the street for exactly five and a half blocks._  
_You should find a chain café. Once there, please speak to the barista._  
_From, the Phantom Thief Joker_

Haru exhaled a sigh of relief. This was just another of Akira's convoluted schemes. Some sort of scavenger hunt game or something to find him. She had to admit, it sounded quite fun. An excellent way to recharge after a day of monotonous meetings. She placed the calling card in her purse and left the room, heading down to the lobby as per the instructions.

As the elevator opened and she stepped out to the lobby, she began to walk over to the exit when a voice caught her attention.

"Excuse me," called the receptionist in Japanese, "are you Okumura-san?"

Haru turned to the reception desk and curiously walked over to the woman standing behind it. "Yes I am. Why do you ask?"

"A man with black hair told me to give this to you," she answered. "He said he was your boyfriend and wanted me to help him with a surprise he was planning." The woman handed Haru another red and black rectangle. She perplexedly turned it over to the side with the message, finding only a single word pasted on the back.

_You_

Just "you?" What was that supposed to mean?

"Can't say I'm not a little jealous," the woman behind the desk added. "Wish I had someone who'd put this much effort into surprising me. That calling card replica practically looks authentic." Haru simply thanked her with a nervous smile. Hopefully she never guessed it really was authentic. The Phantom Thieves' time in the spotlight was years ago, but drawing attention to their former identities would likely still cause tons of problems.

The receptionist waved cheerfully as Haru left the hotel. As per the first card's instructions, she turned west and began to walk down the street, searching for the café she was intended to find. As she walked, she tried to figure out what Akira could possibly be planning. If the pattern held true, he probably had at least a couple more calling cards along the way he was sending her. But for what reason? Would there be some sort of function once all of them were collected?

Haru's thoughts were cut short as she realized she had arrived at the café. A Standbecks, to be exact. Curious to see where this hunt lead, she entered and headed to the counter.

\------------------

_The end is near, my beloved Noir. There is but one more location in your search._  
_The treasure awaits you at Waikiki Beach at the benches under the cluster of palm trees._  
_Head along the beach in the direction of the hotel. You'll know it when you see it._

That was the message given to Haru by the flower shop employee along with the fifth calling card of the treasure hunt and a beautiful pre-paid bouquet. She cheerfully thanked the employee and headed out towards her final destination.

On her way, she checked the message on the back of the new card. This time, magazine letters spelled out the word Will. She put it in her purse along with the others. The card she received from the café had the word _Haru,_ on the back. She'd been sent to the local Big Bang Burger in between and received a card that said _Me?_. There was also the original card, but she doubted the introductory message was relevant to the other.

But what would "You Haru, Me? Will" even mean? She decided to hold off on guessing to better enjoy the surprise, but the questions still nagged faintly in her mind as she walked along the moonlit beach.

The sun had fully gone down at that point, the night sky illuminated with stars and the ocean reflecting the lights in a beautiful reflective display. The magnificent, tranquil view and the calm crashing of the waves put Haru in a relaxed state of mind. She'd only been to Hawaii once before for the school trip back in high school. It was so beautiful and festive that she almost forgot about her awful ex-fiancé for the entirety of the trip.

Haru's nostalgic daydreams began to fade from around her the instant she realized she had made it to the somewhat familiar cluster of palm trees. The plants jutted out from a brick enclosure, around which were several benches for patrons to sit in the shade during the daytime. She decided she was close enough to start jogging over, her mouth curving into a happy smile as soon as she spotted Akira getting up from one of the benches on the side further from her, with what appeared to be a card table placed in front of the bench. She reached out her arms once she got close enough to borderline tackle her elusive boyfriend into a hug.

"Hey, Harukuma," he chuckled, affectionately hugging her back. "I take it you enjoyed the scavenger hunt?"

"It was delightful, Aki-kun," Haru sighed into his neck. "My only complaint is that I wasn't able to spend my adventure around town with you as well." Akira's face lit up as Haru quickly planted her lips against his. He found out somewhat early into their relationship that she enjoyed engaging in PDA, an interest which he had fully supported no matter how many times Futaba made fake gagging noises at them. It was her way of informing the world that he was hers and the persistence of this attachment years later made him all the more confident in his plan for the night.

They separated a few seconds later and Haru made the most of the short, but all too long distance between them to gaze over Akira's outfit. The night was considerably cooler than the scorching days in the tropical climate, so he'd opted for a pair of dashing black jeans. His shirt was a faded grey button down tucked in behind a sleek dark-brown belt with a dark red tie hanging from his neck. On top of the shirt, he wore a sharp navy blue jacket that fell somewhere along the sharp casual scale. It looked flat-out amazing on him, turning Haru's thoughts more in the direction of how it would look when she messed it up later that evening.

"Well," Akira mused, "I would have loved that as well, but what's the fun in a treasure hunt when the treasure's there the whole time? And when her companion already knows what's happening, of course."

"My, what an incredibly smooth talker you are," Haru replied. "Even so, I'm still curious. What was the meaning of the messages on the back of the calling cards? I know you must have some reason behind it."

"In due time, my fair Noir," Akira mused smugly. "However, there are still a couple more layers to this mission that should be taken care of before we reach the finale." He made a small pivot so he was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Haru, their arms still around each other's backs. He walked her around the card table toward the bench he was sitting on before she arrived and sat back on it again, Haru sitting beside him and resting her head on his shoulder. "Tell me, does this particular bench seem familiar to you?"

Come to think of it, it was incredibly familiar. Haru knew she had been here before, so it had to have been during the school trip. But why did she specifically remember…

Suddenly the realization hit her. "This… was where we first met, wasn't it? During the school trip!"

Akira snapped his fingers and nuzzled his cheek into her hair. "Bingo. It was at this very bench on September 9th, 2016. The Phantom Thieves were going around to check the rumors that were circulating about us on the faraway island, and it was right here where the lovely Haru Okumura sat as I approached to continue my quest."

Haru relaxed into Akira's shoulder as he recounted the events of their first official meeting. She was honestly surprised he had remembered so much about the event. They hadn't said much of note or taken each other into much consideration. If someone had told her back then that the kouhai she interacted with for that brief minute would end up returning with her to the very spot years later as her long-time boyfriend, she never would have believed them. Mostly due to her then-certainty of being stuck with Sugimura for the rest of her life. She was overjoyed to be here now, proving her past self wrong.

"I must admit, I'm quite impressed," she blissfully sighed. "You've certainly outdone yourself tonight, Aki-kun. This is better than any anniversary present I ever could have imagined."

Akira simply rubbed her shoulder, kissed her forehead, and smiled cheekily at his beautiful girlfriend. "You flatter me, but not yet, it isn't. We still haven't gotten to the main event."

Haru perked up at the reminder. "Oh, right! The calling cards! They nearly slipped my mind!" Akira stood from his seat and, while Haru was disappointed in the loss of her favorite human pillow, she took the opportunity to dig through her purse for the cards she'd collected. Excluding the original, she retrieved the four and held them in front of her face as Akira produced a few small rectangles of paper from his left pants pocket.

"Now," he began in his charming Joker voice, "I assume you already concluded that the locations of the cards all connect to the subjects in which we initially bonded as Phantom Thieves." She had indeed realized that. The café represented to him teaching her how to make coffee and spending time in LeBlanc, the Big Bang Burger represented him serving as her only true ally in her struggle to gain the company's recognition after her father died, and the florist clearly represented the hours they spent gardening on the Shujin rooftop. The question was what the cards themselves meant, other than alluding to the primary root of their bond.

"There's one last puzzle for you to unravel," Akira informed her with a nervous sigh. "It's part cipher, part magic trick, but I'm certain you'll have no trouble with it." He waved his hand over the table, where he'd placed a few small laser-printed pictures in a peculiar formation. "Simply place the calling cards message-up on the images representing where you obtained them. And this last one…" he explained as he flicked his wrist and obtained another red and black card seemingly out of thin air, setting it at the corner of the table and backing away, "is to remain face-down until the others are in place. Only then should you turn it to the message and place it on the indicator to complete my gift for you."

"Very well," Haru responded with a grin. "I shall do my best in solving your puzzle, Mr. Thief." Akira couldn't help but smile warily at her response before stepping to the side so she could place the cards. It was strange, though. In spite of his earlier display of typical scheme bravado, Akira seemed to be quite evidently struggling to conceal some level of nervousness toward his plan. Haru hadn't seen him like this since before they launched their official heist against Shido. What was making him show such uncharacteristic cracks in his typically unbreakable façade of cockiness?

Haru supposed she could discuss it with him after solving the puzzle. He never shared what was going on with himself until the end of his plans anyway, so she'd learned by now it would be futile. Besides, the puzzle itself would probably provide at least some answer before she could ask anyway.

She thought back to where she obtained the cards and scanned the images on the table. The first indicator, located above the others halfway down the lower line, was a picture of teenage Haru and Akira practicing on the coffee machines at LeBlanc. She flipped through the cards and pulled out the one she received at Standbecks, the message on the back reading "Haru,".

The first in the lower row was a selfie taken by Akira this summer. Only the side of his head was visible, the rest of the photo centering on Haru working on her plot of land in the community garden near their apartment. Akira had a big, goofy grin on his half-face while she momentarily turned her head toward him for the photo and smiled. She remembered him talking up her "god-tier gardening skills" in the Former Phantom Thieves group chat for the rest of the afternoon. This probably indicated her card from the florist, so she placed the "Will" card onto the spot.

The next picture was one Haru had taken herself when they were moving into their apartment together. It was another selfie, with Haru off to the side like Akira had been in the prior one, holding her finger to her lips in a shushing gesture. To the left of the photo lay Akira, asleep on their couch from tiring himself out with unpacking all day. Morgana lay curled up on his stomach as well. Haru snickered at how adorable they looked in the photo, leaving herself a mental reminder to dig it up again later for safe keeping. It took some thinking, but this one probably indicated the hotel, due to its relevance to living situations. Haru picked out the "You" card and placed it on the photo.

The next image was taken just two days ago when they arrived in Hawaii for the trip. It showed Haru standing in front of a large bay window in the airport with tons of palm trees behind her. She smiled cheerfully to the camera as Akira took the picture. Since it almost definitely didn't apply to the other location she obtained a card, Haru concluded it was intended for the secret one Akira had placed on the edge of the table. Keeping her word to end on that one, she moved on to the final image.

The last picture on the table was of Haru and Akira happily chatting on their way to the table from the buffet at the Wilton Hotel. Ann had taken it about a year ago when they met her and Ryuji for a double date. It was simple and candid, which Haru particularly found enjoyable. She loved Akira going out of his way to put on grand gestures like this entire treasure hunt scheme, but she also reveled in the endearing everyday moments the two had together. Seeing as it related to food and there was nothing else left anyway, she assumed the Big Bang Burger card was meant to go in the spot, placing the word "Me?" at the end of the message.

Before flipping the final calling card, she quickly read over what she had so far. The first word was _Haru,_ the next was _Will_ , then _You_ , then the currently blank space, and finally _Me?_

…Wait.

Was this…?

Haru peeked over at Akira, who gave her a small nervous grin with his hands clasped behind his back. She turned back toward the table, her stomach in knots. She had to confirm if this really was what it looked like it was leading up to. Haru picked up the last card, slowly moving it on top of the photo of the airport and flipping it over.

Her face turned completely pink as she reread the now completed message written in the calling cards, rapidly turning her head to the side to face her boyfriend and clapping her hands over her mouth. And just as she was processing what was going on, Akira spoke up from his spot next to her, elaborating on what was written on the table.

With one knee on the ground.

And a velvet box in his hand.

"Haru," he began, his Joker façade gone and his voice in a soft tone, "you are by far the most amazing person I've ever met. Back when we all disappeared on our last day as the Phantom Thieves, watching you vanish from existence was the most painful experience I've ever had to endure. And all this time has only made me more certain of how important you are to me. I love you. And I never want to lose you again."

He opened the box, unveiling an astoundingly beautiful ring with a rose shape on top and a diamond in the center of the flower. Haru could only gape at the scene playing out before her, her face still layered in bright pink.

"Haru Okumura… will you marry me?"

Slowly, Haru stood from the bench, her hands still clasped over her mouth, eyes beginning to water as she made her way over to stand directly in front of Akira. She took a long, deep breath through her nose before lowering her hands, revealing a choked-up smile as her tears trickled down her face.

"…Yes. I never want to lose you either, Akira. I will absolutely marry you."

Akira's face lit up as he gazed into Haru's watery eyes, extending his hand towards her. "May I?" Haru simply smiled back and placed her hand in his. He removed the ring from the box and slowly stood up, holding her hand as he gently slid the ring onto her finger. No later than a second after it was securely placed did Haru passionately slam her lips into Akira's.

The two separated a short while later, Akira catching his breath from the lack of an opportunity to inhale beforehand as Haru hugged him tightly and wiped her joyful tears on his shoulder.

"You know," Akira chuckled with a somber smile, "I was kind of freaked out you'd say no for a while. Glad you can still surprise me too." Haru looked up from his shoulder, clearly displaying her startled confusion to his statement.

"Is that the truth? Of course I would say yes! Why would I not want to marry someone as amazing as you are, especially after you put all this thought and effort into proposing?"

"Well," he muttered, "it wasn't really about me per say. I just… got kinda worried you'd be opposed to the idea after… he-who-must-not-be-named."

Haru's mouth morphed into a frown as she tightly gripped the back of Akira's jacket. She put on the best serious face she could in her current emotional high.

"Akira, listen to me," she stated firmly, yet gently. "Sugimura was an awful person and I most certainly wish to put that chapter of my life behind us forever. But my negative feelings toward the engagement were due to not having a choice in the matter and the manner in which he treated me. Marrying you is my choice. Unlike with Sugimura, I truly am in love with you. And I am more than certain that you will never become anything like him. You don't need to fear anything of the sort."

Akira smiled down at Haru and kissed her forehead. "Thanks, hon. I'm glad you feel that way. Now that I know it won't upset you, my only doubt's been completely erased." Haru smiled back and nuzzled her face into the crook of her new fiancé's neck.

"But still," Akira spoke up, "if you ever start doubting your choice, just tell me. Your comfort and happiness are my highest priorities."

"I won't have to," Haru affirmed, planting a gentle kiss on Akira's collar bone. He held her tighter and buried his nose in her hair, taking in the scent of her lavender shampoo and reveling in the comforting softness he loved so much.

And so they stood there on the moonlit beach, listening to the gentle crashing of the waves as they clung to each other's warmth. They'd go back to the hotel eventually, but for now, Haru wanted nothing more than to remain in the peaceful moment forever.

With her adoring showman of a future husband.


End file.
